Basic Trope: A guy is put off by how aggressively his would-be Love Interest pursues a relationship with him.
- Straight: Alice wants to date Bob, and actively pursues a relationship with him. Bob does not approve of this.
- Exaggerated: Alice makes passes at Bob, and he immediately blacklists her as a prospective Love Interest, because, in his mind, girls shouldn't be the one to make the initial move to pursue romance, no matter how subtle.
- Downplayed: Alice is attracted to Bob, and passive-aggressively pursues a relationship with him. Bob does not notice this.
- Justified:
- Bob simply doesn't like Alice in that way, and the fact that she not only doesn't accept that, but actively tries to force him to accept her only puts him off further.
- Alice is an Abhorrent Admirer.
- Bob is Allergic to Love, or generally hates being the center of attention.
- Social mores dictate that it should be the men who pursue women. Alice's aggressive pursuit of Bob, even if he does like her otherwise, is damaging his social standing and making life for him and his family difficult.
- The way Alice is aggressively pursuing Bob would be treated very differently if it was genderflipped to Alex and Bobbie.
- Alice is a stalker and/or an Ax-Crazy Yandere.
- Bob concludes that Alice must not be a good catch if she has to chase guys, rather then having them come to her.
- Bob has Incompatible Orientation with Alice, but circumstances forbid him from telling this information to Alice.
- Inverted:
- Evan chases after Danielle, much to her dismay.
- Violet likes Bob, but even though he's aware of her affection, her shyness and fear of actively pursuing a relationship with him leaves him cold.
- Unlucky Everydude Bob is glad that Alice would take the initiative and also likes that someone's interested in him.
- Casanova Wannabe Bob desperately wishes he was chased by girls, but there's no girl who really interested in him.
- Subverted: When Alice starts pursuing him, Bob is initially put-off by her aggressiveness. But after pursuing and getting together with the Shrinking Violet Claire, he decides that he prefers Alice's straightforwardness.
- Double Subverted: But then Alice takes her aggression too far and continues to pester Bob for dates and affection when he's busy with other things, and Bob starts avoiding her again.
- Parodied: Bob has been fawning after Alice. But the moment she shows a hint of returning his affections, he panics and tells her to back off and stop being so pushy.
- Zig Zagged: Bob can't decide whether Alice actively pursuing him is good or bad. His reaction to it depends greatly on how he feels about their relationship at the moment.
- Averted: Alice's aggressiveness isn't a factor in Bob rejecting or hooking up with her.
- Enforced: The producers insist that the show ought to have a scene featuring Bob being put off by how Alice aggressively pursues a relationship, believing that the male demographic would find the show more relatable.
- Lampshaded: "You're always chasing girls around and you don't score shit yet when one actually wants you, you turn her down?''
- Invoked:
- Alice is afraid Bob will become attracted to her, and so deliberately becomes more assertive so as to be intimidating to him.
- Alice chases Bob in the most stalkerish way she can muster to teach him a lesson about how it feels.
- Exploited:
- Bob wants to date Alice, who isn't interested; knowing that he doesn't like aggressive girls, Alice pretends to be suddenly super-obsessed with dating him, expecting that to drive him away.
- Alice asks her friend Hannah for advice. Hannah secretly likes Bob herself, and deliberately leads Alice to think she needs to aggressively pursue him despite knowing he hates that sort of thing.
- Defied: Bob reasons that a girl interested in him is a good thing, and accepts Alice's offer.
- Discussed: "Maybe we should tell Alice that carrying around a net to capture Bob isn't going to make him like her?"
- Conversed: "How come men hate it so much when a woman pursues them?" "Because a woman who chases a man so adamantly makes herself look like a low-hanging fruit that anyone could pick up."
- Deconstructed:
- Alice's entirely public pursuit of Bob — and his equally public rejections of her — damage both their reputations. Alice is treated as if her wanting a relationship with Bob somehow makes her a slut, while other girls who were interested in Bob before decide they don't want to risk being rejected and shunned just for showing interest.
- It turns out that the whole reason Alice has been pushing her affection onto Bob is because she has had a string of abusive relationships. Having never been allowed to say "No" before, she struggles with accepting that Bob can reject unwanted advances.
- Bob actually doesn't mind an aggressive female partner, but Alice's behavior is scary. She frequently follows him home, has scared off other girls with whom Bob has interacted, and lately has added physical and sexual intimidation tactics as well. Bob is thoroughly disturbed by her Yandere behavior, but no one takes him seriously because Alice is sexy and as a man he should be grateful for the attention.
- Plenty of guys do want to be chased, and are actually too cowardly to pursue a girl otherwise, especially considering the desire to avoid harassment. However, women's knowledge of this trope stops them from pursuing men.
- Bob has Incompatible Orientation to Alice and has too many things at risk if he outs himself. Alice's aggression results in him being Forced Out of the Closet.
- Reconstructed: When Alice takes her pursuit too far, such as getting Bob's family involved so she can get his family's "approval", that's when everyone decides she's done enough and drive her away. The men in the family especially learn from the experience, telling Bob that if he does fall in love, it better not be with a girl like her.
- Played For Laughs: Bob fancies himself a ladies' man, but the only girl who shows any interest is Alice, who uses all the same tactics he does.
- Played For Drama: Alice just won't accept that Bob might not return her feelings. When she sees him with Carol, she goes full-on Yandere — even though he and Carol are Just Friends!
- Implied: Bob turns down Alice for some strange reason. It appears she might be coming on too strong, but it's not clear.
Back to No Guy Wants to Be Chased.
